1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer interface which permits selective connection of printers of different specifications.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus which can print out image data scanned from an original document or read out from a memory is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,988. Only one printer is coupled to the apparatus and different printers having different command data and status data cannot be coupled thereto.
There is a growing demand for an image processing apparatus of a type which allows printers having different command data and status data to be coupled thereto. In this case, the image processing apparatus should be provided with interface circuits and operating systems for the individual printers, and the interface circuits and operating systems should be properly and selectively switched in accordance with the types of printers coupled to the apparatus.
However, it is inconvenient and time consuming to manually switch the interface circuits and operating systems from one to another in accordance with the actual printer to be coupled to the image processing apparatus.